Your Blush
by LovelyLovely-chan
Summary: Ah, Amu, isn't it romantic? The city smog, the passing cars, the chattering voices." "What're you playing at, Ikuto?" Smirk, "maybe I shouldn't tell you right now." Gasp, "pervert!" AMUTO! And various other pairings.


A/N - Thank you for reading LovelyLovely-chan's debut fic, _Your Blush_. (I thank you with all my heart for choosing THIS one out of hundreds of Amuto fics! I salute thee!)

Here we go. Fanfiction SO hot, I now have to write you this disclaimer: I don't own Shugo Chara!

Woe is me

* * *

"Amu...."

"What?"

"Te amo."

"Eh? I don't speak latin."

Chuckle. "It's not latin, it's spanish."

"What's it mean?"

"Can't tell you. It's a secret."

"What?! You're joking! Tell me! Please?"

"Nope."

Growl. "You're such a jerk! I don't know why I even bother with you! I'm leaving!"

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Slam!

Sigh. "What a moron."

Slam! "Hey, wait a minute! This is _my_ room!"

--Lingering Warmth--

Rima and Yaya stared down at Amu's dazed face as they sat at the dim-litted restraunt booth. Rima submitted a long-suffering, somewhat bleak sigh. "She was just fine until that ignorant blondie showed up."

Yaya blinked. "But, Rima-chi, you're blonde, too."

A slender, blonde brow lifted. "Your point being?"

"Um..." Yaya gave her best tentative smile.

"I can't believe she's still staring," said Rima in that blunt way that she always changed subjects. "He's really not _that_ much... is he?"

"Amu-chi will love Tadase-kun until the day the earth stops spinning."

"That's oddly poetic for you, Yaya."

"Yaya can be poetic too!" defended the Yuiki herself.

Rima opened her mouth to add something to that, but just then, her eyes caught a certain long-purple-haired somebody. Her expression instantly turned into a quick scowl. "Ew."

Curious, Yaya glanced back over at Tadase's table. A smile lit her face as she saw Nagihiko sitting right beside Tadase, a conversational smile on his face. Yaya giggled. "Rima-chi likes Nagihiko."

"No, I don't. I think he's a cocky asshole."

"Aw, but Nagi-kun is nice! He's always complimenting your hair, isn't he?"

"And _touching_ it. I can't stand it. He needs to keep his damn hands to himself. Next time he even _looks_ at my hair, I'll punch him clean in the face. Just you watch."

The guys - Nagihiko, Tadase, and Kukai - all decided to go sit with the girls. Since Rima and Yaya were in a booth and Amu was in a booth by herself, Tadase and Kukai took Amu's side, while Nagihiko took the space beside Rima.

"Good evening, Amu-san," Tadase greeted in that polite voice of his. "Did you order yet?"

"...."

"Well, we didn't order yet. Wonder where that waitress is at? We've been here for a while now. We just noticed you guys. Wonder who was here first? I guess it was rude of us not to notice, huh?"

"...."

"It was Nagihiko-kun who noticed you guys. He noticed Rima-chan's hair."

Rima twitched.

Nagihiko laughed. "Yea, hair like that's hard to come by." Completly oblivious to Rima's clear anger, Nagi ran his nimble fingers through her long, wavy hair, admiring the soft texture to it.

Rima's hands tightened into tight fists. A dark pink blush seized her cheeks.

Yaya noticed and decided to change the subject to avoid any punching of faces here. "So, we haven't ordered yet, and we got here after you. Actually, Amu-chi spotted Tadase-kun through the window and made all of us come in."

Amu snapped out of her daze with a blush that defeated Rima's. "Yaya! It's not true, Tadase-kun, I was just really in the mood for pizza, that's all, really! I promise! I mean, me squealing like a brainless fan-girl when I saw your clear pink eyes would be completly ridiculous, right?!"

Tadase looked at Amu for a moment, then smiled warmly. "We were in the mood for pizza, too."

Yaya and Rima sighed. "The bastard's totally oblivious," Rima murmmured to her orange-haired friend.

"No wonder you called him an ignorant blonde."

The two exchanged knowing nods.

"I, uh, can hear you," Nagihiko whispered.

Rima hissed at him.

He simply laughed.

"So where the hell's that waitress?!" Kukai shouted as he stood up. He placed both hands to either sides of his mouth and began yelling, "we want some food! We've got starving people over here!"

"If you don't shut the hell up, I will personally kick you out," said the voice of Hoshina Utau.

A grin stretched up the Souma's handsome face. "Is that a threat or a- oof!" Her fist collided with his stomach.

"Can it. I can't have you cracking innuendos around here. It's..." she looked away, face warming a bit, "my first day."

Then Kukai did a doubletake of what the girl was actually wearing. A waitress uniform. She held a pen and writing tablet in her hands. The grin reappeared on the red-head's face. "No way! You're a waitress?! You, Hoshina Utau, pop-idol, a lowly waitress?! This is hilarious! I gotta... I gotta... take a picture!" He whipped out a cell phone decorated with the black and white patterns of a soccerball and snapped a pic of the pissed-off blonde.

"Utau-chan?" Tadase tilted his head to the side. "Why are you a waitress?"

The violet-eyed girl inspected her nails, trying to seem as airy as ever about the small embarrassment. Her words came out soft and mumbled, though. "Albums haven't been selling very well...."

"What was that?" Kukai asked in his loud, obnoxious voice. "We didn't quite catch it."

"Albums have not been selling well, Kukai."

"Eh?" He placed a hand to his ear. "Come again?"

A blonde brow twitched. "ALBUMS HAVE NOT FUCKING BEEN SELLING WELL, DAMMIT!"

Everyone in the restraunt looked over at the idiotic, screaming blonde chick.

"Hoshina! Enough socializing! Take their order and leave all ready!"

"Yes, sir!" Utau called to the plump man. She turned to the others with a scowl. "That was my manager. What are your orders?"

With a mischeivous grin, Kukai rubbed his hands together. "Oh, this is gonna be good. We want a large order of pizza with cheese-filled crust, pepporonis, anchovies, extra cheese, olives, cuccumbers-"

"We don't serve cuccumbers on our pizza here," Utau interupted as she scribbled down the order on her tablet.

"Oh, excuse me. Would you rather me take my business elsewhere?"

The blonde girl bit her lip to keep from saying anything she might regret, but annoyance was clear on her pretty face. "I'm sure I could find some cuccumbers for you, sir."

The Souma grinned. "Well that's just great. Anyway, where was I? I want a large order of fries, no wait, make that two large orders of fries with ketchup, that's extra ketchup since we have three large orders of fries-"

"You said two large orders."

"I change my mind. I want three. Is that a problem, Miss Waitress?"

"No," she growled through locked teeth as she flipped to another piece of paper. "Not at all. Anything else?"

"Uh, yea, obviously. I would also like three sodas. I want one decaffienated. Make it a coke, no, a pepsi. I want another dechlorinated-"

"Soda doesn't have chlorene in it, asshole."

"Asshole?!" he called loudly again. "Were you just insulting your customer?"

"So, what will the third drink be?" The waitress tried to make her voice peachy again - and failed.

"I never told you what the second one was. The dechlorinated one will be mountain dew. Gotta have my dew, you know. And the third one will be iced water with a little lemon slice in it to give it flavor. Two lemon slices. No, scratch that. I don't like citrus. No lemon slices."

She nodded as she finnished the long, tedious order. _I'm almost afraid to ask it._ "Will that be all, sir?" she asked with great reluctance.

"Huh?" Kukai blinked. "That was just _my_ order. The others haven't told you their's yet."

"WELL, HOLY SHIT!" She shot fierce glares at the others. "What the hell are your orders gonna be then, huh?! You better keep it simple! Amu!"

Amu flinched at the sudden brutality directed at her. "Y-yes, Utau-chan?"

"I know where you live, so if you give me any - and I mean _any_ - troubles, I'll make sure you wake up to a very unpleasent surprise tommorow morning!"

"Uh! O-okay. I'll take-"

And at that moment, Tsukiyomi Ikuto walked into the restraunt. Since the infuriated - and quite awful - waitress was standing with her back in the direction of the doorway, Amu could clearly see the older boy walk in. The pinkette's heart gave a little squeeze at the sight of the gorgeous guy. He walked in completly at ease, his hands in his pockets, his face devoid of a single expression.

That is, of course, until sapphire eyes met honey eyes. In that split second that he saw her, a very breath-taking smirk curled up a corner of his lips. He'd been about to sit down at the counter, but his path of walking veered to the right, right toward Amu's table.

Utau seemed to have his scent locked into her mind because when he was close enough, she whirled around, her character transforming completly. With a girlish squeal, she threw her arms around her beloved big brother and burried her beaming face into his chest. "Ikuto!"

With an already irritated sigh, Ikuto pried the blonde off of him. "Don't wanna get fired, do you?" he told her as he inclined his head in the direction of the scowling manager.

His sister pouted. "Oh. Right."

"Ikuto, you better get out of here," Tadase growled. It wasn't that Tadase didn't like Ikuto personally, it's just, well, Tadase knows how Amu gets around the older boy. "There can only fit six at a table."

Ikuto's smirk could make any girl's knees shake. It certainly made Amu glad she was sitting. "I haven't come to sit down, Tadase," he said in his relaxed, velvety voice.

Tadase couldn't hide his smug expression. _Hmph. Good. It means he hasn't come for Amu-san._

"Actually, I've come here for Amu."

Tadase couldn't hide his frown.

Amu blinked. "M-me?" _Oh god. What'd I do this time?_

"Yes, you," the blue-haired boy confirmed. "I've come on behalf of a very upset Hinamori Ami. She says there's an emergency at home and she needs you right away."

"Don't believe him, Amu!" Tadase yelped. "He's lying."

Ikuto put a hand to his heart, feigning a hurt expression. "Tadase, I'm shocked. How could you think so little of me? Would I lie?"

"Yes. Absolutely."

"Amu," the Tsukiyomi turned to her, "do _you_ think I would lie?"

Amu bit her lip. She looked apologetically at Tadase. "Sorry, Tadase-kun, but he did say it was about Ami. I better go check it out, just in case." She stood up.

Neither Tadase nor Kukai showed signs of moving.

"Um, Tadase-kun?"

Tadase had his arms crossed. "I'm not moving."

"Kukai-kun?"

"Gotta obey the boss, Hinamori. Sorry."

"Oh, yea, you look real sorry," she retorted. She looked at Ikuto. "Is it a _real_ emergency, Ikuto?"

He held up his right hand. "Swear on my grandmother's grave."

Utau gasped. "But-"

Ikuto gently elbowed her in an inconspicuous way, his eyes remaining on Amu's.

"Well, I guess... it wouldn't... be _so_ bad if I were to just go... _check_, at least." She shot worried glances at Tadase.

"Tadase," Ikuto said in his teasing voice. "Your face will freeze that way."

Immediatly, as if Ikuto flicked some sort of switch, Tadase's expression changed. It hadn't improved, though. He went from grumpy to furious. His face went bright red, the way it always did when Ikuto teased him. "That's it! Amu, you can't go anywhere with that guy!" He paused. "Um, please?" he added after feeling lack of politeness.

"Okay," Amu said obediantly, her eyes glazing over once more. Tadase could tell her to jump, and she'd be going through the roof.

A slight frown formed on Ikuto's lips. He eyed the steadfast Tadase, then the infatuated Amu. "All right," he said after a moment's pause. "I'll go. It was nice seeing you, Amu."

"N-nice seeing you too, Ikuto," Amu replied suspiciously. _Something's going on. Ikuto never takes no for an answer this easily._

But just like that, the blue-haired Tsukiyomi left. Utau stared after him, then turned to glare at Tadase. "What a punk. You couldn't've kicked someone off the table for him?"

"What?! No, that would be rude. Besides, who would we kick off?"

Utau glanced at Kukai. "I could think of someone."

Kukai caught her glance and returned it with that broad grin of his. "You mean so _you_ could sit with me, Utau-chan? How sweet."

"Shut up! I'm on my shift right now."

He waved a dismissive hand. "Aw, you're only saying that because you know I'd beat you _again_ in a Ramen eating contest."

The lovely blonde's face - the face that had actually earned her the job - enflamed in red. "Hey! That was a _draw_ last time, soccerboy. A draw!"

(Apparently, someone failed to inform them that this was a _pizza_ shop and ramen wasn't served here.)

Amu tuned out of the argument to gaze out the window, very aware of the warmth eminated from the Hotori sitting right next to her. She saw nothing but passing cars. She decided to turn her gaze back to Tadase to admire how beautiful he was. He'd gained his composure after Ikuto left, and was now smiling in that friendly way as his two friends argued.

Then Amu's cell phone buzzed in her pocket. "Eep!" she yelped as the vibration shocked her. The feude silenced. Six pairs of eyes turned to her. She smiled weakly. "Uh, my... um... phone. Text." She pulled it out of her pocket and checked who it was, positioning her body so no one else could. Instantly, her cheeks reddenned. _Ikuto._

It read:

Tell the others it's Ami.

Ikuto.

And that was it. Amu snapped the phone closed and slipped it back in her pocket. She was a horrible actress and an even worse liar, but she hoped that her pumping heart could be mistook for worry. "It's Ami. She's stuck... in the bed."

Tadase and Kukai instantly moved out of her way. "Is she all right?" Tadase asked in worry.

"Do you need our help?" Kukai offered.

Amu shook her head. "No, I-I can handle it."

"I knew Ikuto was telling the truth!" Utau squealed.

"Your _brother_," Kukai scoffed as him and Tadase slid back into the booth.

Amu was gone. She didn't bother looking for Ikuto, she was on her way home. Ikuto was always a determined fool, but she wanted to hope that he was telling the truth about her sister. _Of course he is. He probably stopped by my house looking for me, saw Ami, saw that she was having an emergency, and decided to come find me._

(Of course, it must have escaped Amu's mind that when Ikuto entered the restraunt, he didn't exactly look like he was searching for anyone.)

So deep into her thoughts, Amu wasn't even paying attention to the crowded sidewalks around her. She was a city-girl of sixteen years, but not yet had she learned that walking with your head tilted to the ground was a bad move. Sure enough, her head collided into someone's chest and she was sent flying back on the cement, pain shooting through her rear.

"You fell on your ass? How unattractive."

Her ears perked at the voice. She would always know that voice, no matter where she was or what was going on. Her eyes shot up and instantly connected with another pair of eyes, a pair of deep blue eyes that seemed to know too much about her. Hell, they _did_ know more than they should. That pale face, that dark hair, all of it blending together to create....

"Ikuto!"

The name came out as a growl, her irritation already beginning.

His trademark smirk curled up his mouth as he held out his hand. "Amu."

Trying not to think about it, Amu snatched his hand. Her face gave away that she clearly felt the warmth of such a smooth hand. He pulled her effortlessly to her feet, and even once that was accomplished, his hand held her's for longer than necessary. The lingering warmth of his hand sent shivers through Amu's body.

She decided to rip her hand free. "What are we waiting around here for?" she demanded. "Let's go!" She started stomping to the direction of her house again.

A moment later, she immediatly regreted wearing a hoodie that day. Ikuto reached his hand out and grabbed her hood, disabling her to move forward.

"There'd be no point going to your house."

She turned to face him, thus causing him to release the hood. Her eyes were glowing orbs of gold, enraged. "What do you mean?! You said Ami was in trouble!"

"I lied."

"I knew it! Tadase-kun was right! But you swore on your grandmother's grave! Her grave, Ikuto!"

"My grandmother's alive. She's even healthier than you are. Ask Utau."

"But why did you lie to me like that?!"

"I wanted to hang out with you."

Amu stopped short after that. She blushed madly and looked down at her feet, her heart thudding in her chest. _I guess he can be sweet at times._

"Pft."

Her blush of adoration flashed into a blush of anger. She glared at Ikuto as he laughed at her, laughed at her reaction after teasing her. _How dare he?! Jerk! Asshole! Always saying things like that that he doesn't even mean and then laughing at me for believing him!_

_It's not like it's my fault....._

_....I'm a little gullable...._

"I'm going back to the restraunt to tell Tadase-kun about this!" she declared. Once again, she found herself stomping in the direction of the restraunt she'd previously been at.

Once again -

-Ikuto grabbed her hood.

And once again -

-She whirled around.

"Stop grabbing my hood! What's your obsession with it?!"

His smirk was wide and amused. "Cats like to be playful."

"Cats like to be playful my ass!"

"No, cat's like to _look_ at your ass, Amu. Well, this cat does anyway."

In the blink of an eye, Amu's blush reappeared. "Y-you look at my ass?" _I'll kill him._

"What the hell else am I supposed to look at when you walk away? Your calves?"

"YOU PERVERT! HOW DARE YOU LOOK AT MY ASS, YOU ASSHOLE! DON'T THINK YOU'LL GET AWAY WITH THIS!" Upon screaming, she also beat her fists against his chest.

"Amu?"

She paused. "What?"

"Would you like to go somewhere with me?"

"Where?"

"It's a secret. Will you?"

She frowned. _Well, since I'm already away from the others...._ "Fine."

* * *

**So, I know there's not much so far, but the chappie was already going on too long, I figured I'd save something for the next chappie. So whaddya think so far? Excessive swearing? Smirks? Blushes? Trust me, it'll get better if you bare with me. There sure were a lot of couples. I think it bordered a little too much on the Kutau side, right? Also, and if I don't get this off my back, it'll kill me, I realize that Utau's REAL last name is Tsukiyomi, but I like Hoshina better. It makes it easier on me. Kay? Kay!**

**Plus, that little part in the beggining, before the title (--Lingering Warmth--) really has nothing to do with the story in process. I just like to add those for the reader's entertainment. Yay, desu!**

**Now is the point in the story where I will ask questions that will make you crave the next chapter - which will be up shortly.**

**Just where is this "secret" place that Ikuto wants to take Amu to? What's going on back at the restraunt, with a worried Tadase-kun? What surprises lay in store for these group of city folk? WHO will Amu pick - her prince or the stray cat? (Um, the answer is pretty obvious considering it iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis an Amuto story....)**

**P.S. "Te amo" means "I love you" in spanish. (If only Amu-chan would've known that....) Tee hee!**


End file.
